When Derry Sims took over as principal of Northeast Elementary School about a decade ago, 37 percent of third-graders passed the state exam in math.

About 23 percent of fourth-graders passed reading.

Last year, the school saw 87 percent of students meet standards in third-grade math and 75 percent in fourth-grade reading. The school has 60 students classified as homeless and 150 whose parents do not speak English at home.

Sims attributes the improvements to a strategy called professional learning communities, which seeks to transform teaching from a solo to collaborative occupation.

"We have to make this like a family," Sims said. "It's really easy to do, but everyone has to buy into it."

Training sessions

Spring Arbor University will host four training sessions this year for educators on professional learning communities. The first session features speaker Anthony Muhammad.

The school used a 2003 federal grant to train staff for three years in how to assess student learning and how to share ideas and feedback. Western is among the other local districts also to have initiated communities.

"The focus should be on learning not teaching," said John Williams, an associate professor of education at Spring Arbor University. "What do we do if a child doesn't learn? It used to be, 'Too bad.'"

SAU has partnered with Western schools and Reading Writing Connection to spend roughly $150,000 in grant money to train local educators on building communities. It will conduct its first training session in October.

Research shows a strong relationship between student learning and the way teachers behave both in the classroom and with each other, said Karen Seashore, a professor in the department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota.

The best communities are not imposed by administration but organically sprung from ideas among the staff, said Seashore, who wrote a book on learning communities.

They also go beyond test scores to analyze whether students are absorbing the material.

"It becomes an inherent part of the culture of the school," she said. "If it becomes too linked to short-term school improvement agendas, it doesn't really build the trust and confidence among teachers where they're willing to talk about the hard stuff."

But experts say teachers must have enough time and support from administration to make the community approach successful.

Sims said his school instituted monthly student study groups when substitute teachers relieve regular teachers for a day so they can meet and go over student work together.

"It takes honesty on the part of the teacher to say, 'My students didn't do as well as yours. What did you do?'" said Mary Campbell, an associate professor of education at SAU.

"Our product isn't a machine. Every student is wired differently."

At Western's Parma Elementary School, teachers have an hour each week to meet in teams while students do activities in the gym, said Miriam Sailers, also a professor of education at SAU, who has witnessed more enthusiasm among the school's staff and better test scores.

Sims said there was some resistance at Northeast initially. But he focused on teachers who were in favor of change, which forced the majority of skeptics to jump on board in the end, he said.

"You have to have a leader in the building that has the idea that good enough ain't good enough," he said. "If anytime we relax they can drop back to where they were."